Mischa Barton became a household name when she first appeared on the hit show The O.C. about a decade ago, but in just a few years’ time she had gone from in-demand actress to having a complete breakdown.
Barton, 27, is candidly talking the “full-on breakdown," as she calls it, in the new issue of People.
"I was under enormous pressure,” she explained of those years, adding "We thought, 'Work hard, play hard.' "
In 2007, Barton got a DUI and in 2009, she landed in the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center psychiatric ward under an involuntary 5150 hold. Her parents had staged an intervention, but she took too many sedatives and landed in the hospital soon after. She also threatened to kill herself.
“I was never suicidal. I was just overworked and depressed,” she said, ABC News reports.
When she finally got healthy and started to focus on her well-being, critics were hard on her for gaining weight. "It was always, 'She's too skinny, she must be sick.’” Then it was, 'She's too big.' I was never the right weight," she explained.
"I've learned a lot. I'm stronger now,” she said.